Dried Fruit Matrices Incorporated with a Probiotic Strain of Lactobacillus plantarum

Abstract

The development of fruits and vegetables containing probiotics is a topic of great interest and popularity for health-conscious consumers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possibility of using dried fruit matrices as delivery vehicles for probiotics. Different fruits — kiwi, mango, strawberry, pineapple, banana — were used as food matrices to test the viability of a strain of Lactobacillus plantarum, which was determined after drying at 40ºC and at different storage times. Cell survival after drying decreased by ca. 1 log in banana and strawberry, to 3 log, for kiwi. The bacterial numbers in banana and strawberry dried pieces at the time of storage at room temperature and 4ºC were approximately 10⁷ cfu/g. After 37 days storage at room temperature, no viable counts were observed in any of the fruits studied. However, at 4ºC after this period of time, viable cells were detected for all the fruits (1.9x10⁶ cfu/g, 1.5x10⁵ cfu/g 1.5x10⁵ cfu/g, 4.7x10⁴ cfu/g 8.0x10³ cfu/g, for strawberry, banana, kiwi, mango and pineapple, respectively).